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Student protests in France began over problems in schools: classrooms are overcrowded, teachers are in short supply, buildings are deteriorating and young people are worried about their prospects after secondary school. Within weeks, a movement that started outside lycées had spread to various regions of the country.
University students have also joined the protests. At the same time, the debate has broadened into a wider confrontation encompassing police violence, politics and even immigration.
According to official estimates, more than 266,000 people demonstrated across France on October 6. Organizers put the turnout at around 450,000.
What are students demanding?
The protests began in September, initially around schools in the Paris region, and later spread to hundreds of educational institutions across France.
Students’ grievances concern specific problems: some classrooms have more than 30 pupils, teachers are scarce, and replacements are not appointed when teachers leave. Staff shortages and dilapidated school buildings are also a source of discontent.
Some students say classrooms become unbearably hot during summer heat and are difficult to heat adequately in winter. Lycée students can also have long school days, with lessons running from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., followed by homework.
Another concern for students preparing to graduate is “Parcoursup,” the national platform for university admissions. The platform has become a symbol of concerns about access to higher education and future opportunities.
Students say many of these problems existed before President Emmanuel Macron took office. However, during nearly a decade of his presidency, teacher shortages, inequalities between schools and aging infrastructure have remained unresolved.
Some reforms introduced under Macron have also prompted protests. “Parcoursup” was launched in 2018, and the government has also changed the lycée and baccalaureate systems.
The protests come as France prepares a tight budget for 2027. The government has proposed increasing education spending by about 1.7 percent. That rise is below inflation, while significant cuts to public spending are also planned.
Students from elite schools join the protests
One sign that the movement has expanded beyond its initial base has been seen in Paris. Students from Henri-IV and Louis-le-Grand, among the country’s most prestigious and selective lycées, have also joined the demonstrations.
A student at Louis-le-Grand told “Le Monde” that the protest was intended as “support for all lycée students who do not have the same opportunities as we do.”
Students from Henri-IV, Louis-le-Grand, Saint-Louis and Fénelon lycées later met with students from La Sorbonne university and joined the demonstrations together. The movement’s spread to institutions associated with France’s educational elite has drawn attention, given its complaints about a lack of resources and inequality.
University students have gradually joined the demonstrations, although lycée students remain the movement’s main force.
Police violence comes under scrutiny after teenagers are injured
Clashes with police have increased as the movement has grown. Several incidents in which minors were injured have shifted the focus of debate about the protests.
During a demonstration in Lens on October 5, a 15-year-old boy lost his hand when an EF-SON stun grenade exploded. While the precise circumstances are being investigated, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced a temporary suspension of the use of EF-SON grenades at student protests.
In Tours, a 16-year-old reportedly lost sight in one eye after being struck by what is believed to have been a rubber bullet. In Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône, a 14-year-old allegedly suffered a broken jaw in two places and lost teeth during a police intervention.
Another widely shared video, filmed in Alençon, shows a police officer holding a 14-year-old girl by the neck. In Metz, prosecutors opened an investigation into possible sexual assault after footage appeared to show a plainclothes police officer touching the chest of a girl under 15 during an arrest.
According to local media reports citing prosecutors, the girl denied the sexual assault allegation, while the police officer filed a complaint on Tuesday over alleged public insult of a public official. Investigations are ongoing, and responsibility has not been established in all cases.
Serious injuries to minors have made police conduct one of the main subjects of debate surrounding the movement. At least 190 students had reportedly been injured by October 5.
The fact that many demonstrators are minors, alongside a rise in the number of people suffering serious injuries from crowd-control measures, has caused concern. It has raised questions about how the state should uphold the right to demonstrate while also protecting the public.
The right to demonstrate in France is not explicitly set out as a separate right in the Constitution, but it is constitutionally protected. The Constitutional Council interprets it as a right deriving from freedom of expression, which is enshrined in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. That declaration forms part of France’s constitutional framework.
French law requires this freedom to be balanced against the need to maintain public order and ensure the safety of people and property. Police may therefore intervene in demonstrations. However, the Council of State has said that measures restricting or regulating protests must be necessary, appropriate and proportionate.
Police officers and school staff have also been injured. According to police data, more than 600 officers had been hurt by October 3. Attacks on police have been reported, including an incident in which a female officer on the ground was kicked.
France uses a wide range of measures to maintain public order, including tear gas, rubber bullets, and various explosive and stun grenades. Human rights organizations have repeatedly criticized their use. “Amnesty International” has previously described France as the only European country to use certain “disencirclement grenades” designed to disperse crowds during public-order operations.
Some police grenades in France fall into category A2, which covers military-use equipment. The serious injuries they can cause have fueled a longstanding debate about whether they are appropriate for dispersing crowds.
“Amnesty International” has accused French authorities of using disproportionate force against student demonstrators. The organization says young people exercising their right to protest have faced tear gas, baton blows and grenades, and have been detained en masse.
According to figures from the Ministry of the Interior cited by the organization, more than 5,000 people were detained between September 21 and October 2, around 85 percent of them minors. Ahead of a nationwide protest planned for October 6, “Amnesty International” called on the authorities to protect young demonstrators and ensure that any use of force remains necessary and proportionate.
Not all demonstrations have been peaceful. Schools have been damaged, fires have been set and objects have been thrown at police. Initial estimates put damage to lycées in the Paris region at around $1.1 million, or 1 million euros. As the unrest spread, police said damage across the country had reached tens of millions of euros.
The demonstrations have also seriously disrupted education: hundreds of schools have had their operations interrupted or suspended, and thousands of people have been detained. The situation has left the government facing a difficult choice between acknowledging real problems in the education system and responding to violence by some participants in the movement.
Government response becomes a political dispute
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez has repeatedly defended police interventions as proportionate in most cases. Asked whether he would apologize to injured students, he said he did not believe he should, noting that individual incidents were being investigated by the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN).
President Emmanuel Macron has sought to adjust the government’s rhetoric to some extent. After a teenager was injured in Lens and criticism of police conduct intensified, he summoned senior ministers to the Élysée Palace. According to the presidential administration, the response should be based on three principles: proportionate police intervention, dialogue with students and condemnation of actions by politicians accused of escalating tensions.
That intervention showed that the government’s response to the protests was also a source of concern within its ranks.
As the demonstrations widened, attention shifted from students’ demands to questions about who was allegedly directing them. Government representatives have repeatedly accused the far-left party “La France Insoumise” of encouraging the unrest. The party’s politicians deny organizing the movement and say they support students’ demands.
Some commentators in conservative and far-right media have gone further, suggesting that Islamist networks or the “Muslim Brotherhood” could be influencing the protests. However, no credible evidence has emerged that the “Muslim Brotherhood” organized a nationwide student movement.
Students have repeatedly rejected claims that they are being manipulated, emphasizing their demands over teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms and the condition of school buildings.
On October 6, U.S. President Donald Trump also weighed in on the debate. He wrote on “Truth Social”: “What is happening in France is nothing but out-of-control mass migration. This is not about schools, it is about Islam’s desire to take over a once-great country!”
Immigration and Islam have not been among the main demands raised by demonstrators. The protests began over grievances related to teacher provision, school infrastructure, class sizes and education funding. Trump’s intervention showed how far the political debate surrounding the movement had moved from its original cause.
A protest by students asking why there are not enough teachers has become an international debate about Islam and migration.
Student protests in France turning into broader political movements are not new. The most prominent example is the May 1968 events. Student demonstrations and occupations of universities led to clashes with police, followed by a nationwide strike involving millions of workers. “May 68” later became part of France’s political memory.
But it is not the only example. France has a long history of education-related grievances developing into broader political movements.
